Young business: vacation in children’s camps will be subsidized

Rostourism launches a cashback program for the services of children’s camps. The launch date has not yet been announced, but the main conditions have already been announced. Recently, the organizers of children’s recreation got acquainted with them, having received the corresponding letters from the department. The experts shared with Izvestia their forecasts regarding the effectiveness of the program and its potential in restoring the segment of children’s recreation.

Extend to children

In a message to the Federal Assembly on April 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed subsidizing half of the cost of vouchers to children’s summer camps in 2021, thus making children’s recreation as affordable as possible. On April 22, the chairman of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko expressed support for such a measure.

Already on April 23, the organizers of children’s recreation received a letter from Rostourism with the terms of the children’s cashback program. As follows from the document (available to Izvestia), stationary camps will be able to participate in the project, information about which is contained in the register of organizations for recreation and health improvement of children of the Ministry of Education, tour operators registered in the unified federal register of tour operators that sell vouchers to stationary recreation organizations for children and their recovery, as well as electronic aggregators of travel services.

The amount of money refunded to the Mir card will be 50% of the voucher cost. The minimum cost of the voucher is not limited. The child’s rest period in the camp should be at least one shift. Information about the start of the cashback program and its duration is not indicated in the letter.

Lifebuoy

Experts reacted positively to such a measure of support, recalling that children’s tourism suffered from the pandemic more than others, since all departures of children were completely stopped since March 2020. Cashback for children’s holidays will help restore this market segment. Considering the fact that vacation in camps this year has risen in price by 5-10%, this will be a good incentive for many parents. On average, a ticket to a summer camp for 21 days now costs from 35 thousand to 80 thousand rubles.

The measure is really useful, says Valery Dimoev, general director of DSOK Zhemchuzhina. The expert reminds: last year only a few children’s health resorts were opened. The direction of children’s recreation needs help, otherwise it can simply be lost. “Do not forget that children’s recreation is not only a commercial, but also a socially significant line of business. We have been running the largest children’s health resort for more than 15 years and accept more than 30 thousand children annually. And we can say with confidence that the interest in children’s recreation is very high, ”said Dimoev.

“Any measure to stimulate demand in our area is effective and useful. The “white” market has been waiting for support for a long time, and although this is a non-linear help to the camps with money, but in any case, positive activity in the field of recreation and health improvement “, – said Leonid Protsenko, acting. Director of the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education “Federal Center for Children and Youth Tourism and Local History”.

The head of the Krasnodar tour operator “NiKa-M” Dmitry Sarzhanov considers “children’s” cashback an excellent measure that will spur parents’ interest in organized children’s recreation and health improvement.… Marina Gritsun, Deputy Head of the Tourism Committee of the Public Association of Entrepreneurs “Support of Russia” and the Head of the Union of Organizers of Children’s and Active Tourism (SODAT), agrees with her colleagues. The measure of support, in her opinion, is effective.

Meanwhile, experts emphasize: in order for the program to show the maximum effect, it is necessary to approach its implementation, taking into account the specifics of the market.

“Cashback for trips to children’s camps is support for both parents and the market of legitimate camps. But if you do not work out the implementation mechanism with a real business, then instead of help you can create a lot of problems, ”Gritsun is sure.

Money decides

However, there are already difficulties in the way of implementing the program. Considering that more than half of the vouchers have already been sold, this could lead to a collapse in sales. Everyone who has already bought the vouchers will not be able to receive a refund, respectively, they will demand the money back in order to then purchase the same vouchers again, but according to the cashback scheme, Sarzhanov says. This will present serious difficulties for camps and tour operators. In addition, for bank transfers, you will have to pay from 2 to 10% of the amount of transfers. This is actually half of the income of a tour operator or travel agent, the expert complains.

Active sales for the summer go on throughout the spring, and those who have already purchased vouchers are likely to buy them again and receive cashback for them, shares the opinion of his colleague Gritsun.

Dmitry Sarzhanov sees such a reimbursement mechanism: for those who will purchase – cashback, for those who have already purchased – reimbursement of costs for the documents provided. In the second case, there can be many options.

“For example, we give the parent the originals of the contract, payment receipt and return coupon. The parent submits these documents through an authorized body, for example, through the website of public services, and receives compensation. Tour operators or camps can centrally submit such documents. We need to quickly and jointly work out a solution acceptable to everyone, ”the expert says.

It is possible, Sarzhanov continues, to use the positive and long-term experience of the Krasnodar Territory: there is compensation for everyone who buys vouchers in legal stationary camps and from travel companies that these camps also offer. “We give the parent after the rest a contract, checks and a return coupon, the parent takes all this to social security or the MFC and receives a refund,” the expert says.

Discuss with everyone

Marina Gritsun is convinced that in order not to turn a good measure of the state into a stopper for the market, it is necessary to discuss the terms of the program with interested market participants and jointly develop an effective mechanism that will take into account the interests of both citizens and businesses.

“It is necessary to prepare documents establishing the terms and procedure, as well as conditions, so that the money received by the camps entered in the register and complying with all the requirements of the legislation regarding children’s recreation. Tour operators participating in the program must sell vouchers to organizations that are only included in the register. Not everyone who calls himself a camp and writes it on the site is a camp in the terms provided by law. Therefore, it is necessary to check the register of the region, ”says Gritsun.

The camps, which for years have avoided working in the legal field, evading supervision and inspections, should not be participants in the state support program, the expert is sure. But for those who worked until 2020 and were not included in the register due to the suspension of activities, it is necessary to ensure favorable treatment and speed up the opportunity to return to the register.

“It is completely incomprehensible why campgrounds are not included in cashback. A wonderful type of vacation, most affected by the restrictions of the past and this year, will simply be finished off. After all, so far the right to receive a refund, judging by the letter from Rostourism, is only available to those who go to stationary, corps camps, ”says Gritsun.

Some market experts also point to the shortcomings of the Rostourism program. “The measure was six months late. In addition, half of the camps will not feel this help, since they mainly work with corporate clients, and this will not affect them, ”says Dmitry Sarzhanov.

Taras Kononets, founder of the Robin Hood children’s camp in the Kaluga region, believes that the best option is to extend the children’s cashback program to 2022. “We expected the launch of this program simultaneously with the tourist cashback, which started on March 18th. The fact is that most of the camps have already sold their vouchers in whole or in part. There are almost no vacancies. Thus, the program will no longer cover the maximum and will not make recreation more accessible for everyone. Help for closed camps is obvious, but there is little time to recover by the coming season. We need to launch cashback as soon as possible, ”says Kononets.